• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Distancing himself from the feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte, Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito said that the conflict does not give a good signal abroad, especially to investors.
“I feel sad, that at this early, the conflict has gone worse,” Ejercito, who joined the Negros Loop 2024 motorcycle event, aimed at promoting Negros Island tourism, said on Monday, Dec. 2.
He also noted that the conflict between the President and the Vice President is now being discussed in major news networks abroad.
“No matter how we try to market our country to attract investors to come and invest in the Philippines, when you have the Top 1 and 2 officials fighting, that is political instability,” he said.
The senator also said that the “early political bickering, especially between top two positions in the government, will not help at all”.
Duterte earlier said that her feud with Marcos has reached a “point of no return” after the police filed an assault complaint against her and some of her staff.
The Philippine National Police lodged the complaint amid an uproar over remarks where Duterte publicly threatened Marcos by saying he would be assassinated should she be targeted and killed in a plot.
Her comments prompted the President to say that he would “fight back.”
Amid mounting calls to file an impeachment complaint against Duterte, Marcos’ text message circulated on social media, saying such a plan would only distract the government.
Based on Marcos’ leaked private message, he said, “In the larger scheme of things, Sara is unimportant. So please do not file impeachment complaints. It will only distract us from the real work of governance whic(h) is to improve the [lives] of all Filipinos.”
The impeachment process is more political than legal, Ejercito said.
“I don’t want to dip my hands in the political bickering, mudslinging between the top two officials, and other government officials,” Ejercito, who had been an independent senatorial candidate during the 2022 elections, said.
“I don’t owe favors from anybody. I am only beholden to the Filipino people,” he added.
Ejercito said that he is hoping there will be compromises between the President and the Vice President, noting that the present administration has a lot of things to do. | GB
